Studio Calico May sneak peek!

So I'm super excited to be back on board and contributing to the Studio Calico May gallery which is about to go live in another 24hours or so!

The May kits are called Jolly Holiday and the Mood Board will give you an idea of what it's going to look like..


So fun and bright right?

Anyway, so I'm working with the Stationary Kit (it's what used to be the Card Kit, but it's a little different these days) and I got sent stamps and dies and a 4x6" paper pad to get creative with.

Here's the sneaks of some the cards I've created....

That last one? Don't even ask!

But I'll see you at reveal tomorrow right? ;-)
You can check out more sneaks in the Creative Team Gallery HERE.

PS. Massive savings on ALL the digital products in the shop for today only. Check it out HERE.

xx

Jot Magazine April Mood Board Challenge

Whilst I love a Mood Board challenge that feels comfortable, you know, like it's in "my colours," I love it even more when it starts with my colours and then pushes it out further to a place I've never been before :-)

That's what I thought when I saw the Mood Board challenge from Jot Magazine this month. I mean it includes the pink and sky blue which are totally my go-to colours, but then it adds in red, maroon, grey and gold glitter which never would have occured to me (ok, so the gold glitter would have... but certainly not the maroon!) but the result is magical don't you think?

As usual for me when it comes to a colour challenge I like to pull out a bunch of coordinating supplies and then start moving them around. This time I started with the chipboard packaging as my base - I was inspired by the photo in the top right with all the square frames - and then I went to work filling in all the little gaps.

There was no doubt the XOXO cushions were going to spark an embellishment idea (many of the other Jot Girls have had similar thoughts) and for me they ended up being the focus sentiment. I stacked up double Thickers for extra dimension and filled the centre of the O's with gold glass glitter.

Which part of the Mood Board inspires you the most? Will you play along with us this month? Find out all the challenge details HERE.

xx

Jot Magazine March Mood Board

We're nearly half way through this month already if you can believe that! The March Mood Board challenge from Jot Magazine is up and running and is just gorgeous. Here's the card I made:

I started with the blues and pinks from the colour scheme, and made sure to include a splash of woodgrain/kraft into the mix as well. You know me - it's all about the layers! The long line of arrows in the mood board inspired me too so I threw on a cluster of wood veneer ones to top it off.

This month's Mood Board was designed by Mardi Winen who always inspires me with her modern-vintage layouts, and the rest of the Jot Girls have done a brilliant job at interpreting the board in their own unique styles too.

This month we have a brand new sponsor Baby Peppers who are generously giving away a handmade quilt to the winner of the challenge. You can check out all the details on the Jot blog HERE.

Created to Create

If you've been meaning to check out the first kit from Illustrated Faith that was released through DaySpring then now is the time... on Thursday the new kit is revealed which will mean this one gets retired!

It's called Created to Create and the devotional was written by our inspirational leader Shanna Noel. The kit comes with everything you see here - the devotional, a 6x4" stamp set, an ink pad, washi tape, sharable scripture cards and more! I only just received mine a little while ago and dived straight in so I've got a couple of pages to share with you...

Right from the very first day of the devotional it instantly inspired me. I don't know about you but often in social situations I downplay my creative endeavors as a frivolous pursuit that's of little importance in 'the real world'. But here it is in black and white - and in the Old Testament no less - the Lord called forth specific people to be gifted with "skill, knowledge, intelligence and all craftmanship" through the infilling of God's Spirit. There were weavers and carvers and embroiderers and engravers and designers and they were all called by God to use their skills to glorify Him. We shouldn't be ashamed of our talents but should celebrated the fact that we have been created by a creative God to be creative!

The stamps in this kit are just so fun aren't they? I can definitely see myself using these for far more than just bible journaling. And speaking of stamps, Day Spring have now just added the first lot of Bella Blvd Illustrated Faith stamp sets to their collection of products, along with acrylic blocks and ink pads and a whole range of other accessories. You can check out the whole collection HERE.

And if you're shopping then you might just want to keep this code in mind... it gives you 25% off everything, but it's only valid until Thursday!

Jot Issue 13

The latest issue of Jot Magazine has just hit the airwaves and as usual it's a beautifully curated collection of stunning projects.

I consider myself very lucky to be counted among the Jot Girls and so I have the opportunity to create directly for the magazine. For this issue I managed to contribute two separate projects - this first one was for the Numbers gallery. 

I started this card with a couple of things in mind; the first was all about letting the focus rest on the big bold numbers (that's pretty obvious right?!) but because this was actually for a boy-birthday I needed to try and resist the temptation to make it all pretty and layered and textured like I usually do.

So I stuck with a simple and clean design but still had fun with it by trying out a new technique for me which is that inlaid diecut thingy I've done there with the scripted 'congrats' die. It was a little fiddly, let's be honest! But I do like how it turned out :-)

Next up was this set of three cards I did for the Mother's Day gallery. I felt like I could get a whole lot more girly and flowery with these and so I chose my Neat & Tangled Gardenia Blooms stamp and embossed it in white before using some Zig Clean Colour Real Brush pens to colour them in.

But this is really just the tip of the iceberg friends! There is soooo much inspiration packed into this issue that you are just going to LOVE it! You can download your FREE copy over on the Jot blog now!

Happy reading!
xx

All the news about Illustrated Faith and DaySpring

There have been a bunch of changes to the way Illustrated Faith is working these days. They're all huge and amazing and super-exciting and I wanted to share a little bit about it here!

Firstly, Illustrated Faith has a new (and improved!) website which includes all the things you already loved about the old site such as inspiring blog posts, a resource section and philosophy statements, but now it also includes a forum for members to chat to each other as well! Like all new ground-breaking moves we are still testing the waters a bit and so if you go to visit right now and get some error messages please bear with it and try again later.

I had my first blog post for the new site up earlier this week and it was all about putting the focus back on the journaling in bible-journaling. I'd link you up straight to the post, but it's not working right now. I'll update this when it is :-)
In the meantime, you can watch my corresponding video for the post directly from the Illustrated Faith YouTube channel HERE.

Next, if you haven't heard about it already, Illustrated Faith has joined forces with DaySpring Cards to bring you all the retail side of it. All the Bible journaling basics, as well as the latest release Bella Blvd Illustrated Faith products will now be available through DaySpring (instead of the Illustrated Faith Etsy which no longer exists) and there's big things afoot. In the past we were releasing a devotional with coordinating stamp sets every month.... but now it's a WHOLE KIT!!

Our March kit is called Created to Create. These monthly kits will feature a devotional booklet with 12 Bible journaling devotions, a clear stamp collection and stamp pad (a new color each month!), cut-outs, washi-tape, Scripture Sharables and more for $29.99! We have a limited quantity of each monthly kit, so we highly recommend grabbing this one while you can!

Now we all know that international shipping can be a bit of a deal-breaker when it comes down to it, so I've got some very special codes for my Aussie (and any other non-American!) friends to help you save some big dollars in shipping costs!!

• Code INTL20 – for $20 off any purchase of $59 or more.
• Code INTL40 – for $40 off any purchase of $99 or more. 

Moriah's December page and extra

Just one last page to share from the girl's 2015 albums, it's Moriah's December spread.

It always feels a bit strange sharing Christmas layouts long after the holiday has been celebrated, but there's still something magic about the combination of bright green and red and gold isn't there?

I was very good this last Christmas season and didn't buy anything new for myself. I am lucky though, I still received new season products, but they were either from DT arrangements or products I happened to win. So I mixed in these new things with my old Christmas stash and it breathes fresh life into all of it.

The red and mint and gold sparkled stuff is Stampin' Up Hello December collection whilst most of the rest of it comes from Studio Calico kits from Christmasses past :-)
And that hand-drawn tree that Moriah did? It's my absolute favourite!!

As a little bonus page for the album I included our traditional end-of-year family photo very simply paired with a paper from the Studio Calico Pop Art kit. Simply but creates an impact, and was the best way to round off the album.

Now that I've finished off those albums, I really should be thinking about starting the 2016 ones right?!!

Jot's February Mood Board

I've found myself on a bit of a card-making spree again lately. That is, if you can call one or two cards a week a spree! But it suits me well since that's about all the time I have these days to create. I kinda forgot how much energy this full-time working thing zaps out of you by the end of the day ;-)

A couple of weekends ago we had back-to-back 21st parties (ROCK ON!!) so obviously I had to whip up some birthday cards for the occasions. I find it really helpful when I can combine my DT work with projects that I actually need to get done because it kills two birds with one stone! LOL! So I used the latest Jot Magazine Mood Board challenge to inspire me to make this girly card.

And seriously.... how gorgeous is the Mood Board?! I absolutely love it to bits which made pulling this card together actually quite easy, and in my usual style I simply layered up bits and pieces together until I was happy.

My favourite thing is to try and include lots of textures too, so I had fun with adding paint, and stitching and chipboard and I folded up the leaves to give it some dimension.

Great news! The prize for this month's Jot Magazine Mood Board challenge is an original Jodie York script canvas in copper foil - it's so cool! Check out all the details over HERE, I hope you'll play along.

xx

Bethany's November and December pages

Sorry for the hiatus in blog posts whilst I recommenced full time employment! Yikes, I forgot how hard that makes things like crafting and blogging and photography and well... nearly everything apart from vegging out in front of Netflix when you come home ;-)

But I'm slowly adjusting to it all and remembering how I used to fit these things in just whenever I have a spare 20 minutes. So I thought I'd take the opportunity to catch you up with last years' November and December spreads for Bethany's album.

My November page started off with some basic building blocks from the Studio Calico Canyonlands Documenter Kit (those lime greens and aqua felt very Springy to me!) and then I started adding little extra bits from past kits and my stash too.

As usual I tried to include some kid-art documenting as well as lots of stories and decent photographs too.

But when it came time to do the December page it was a little trickier. Only because I did a Not-Quite-a-December-Daily album again this year and I was conscious of not doubling up on photos and stories but trying to get something unique into their Project Life album, whilst still capturing the whole spirit of the season too. 

  

I guess in some respects it wasn't hard because I don't know about you but I tend to take about a bazillion photos at Christmas since every single moment seems so magical!

For my December title card I used the Studio Calico gold letterpress calendar page from the corresponding month. I don't know why it took me until December to think of this! But I haven't thrown away the rest of the cards yet, I figure I can still use them for something!

And then I mostly used past scrapbook papers to fill the rest of the pockets rather than actual PL cards. I embellished with Gossamer Blue acrylic and wood veneer pieces, and those geometric animal diecuts made another appearance too.

So that's Bethany's 2015 album done and dusted.
I haven't quite wrapped my brain around the fact that if I'm doing a similar structure again this year that I'm already a month behind! Whoops!!

Here's to 2016!